The Hurdle in their Future
by WaitedLongEnough
Summary: Post-episode story for The Daredevil in the Mold and The Bikini in the Soup.  Now that Hannah is out of the picture, how long will Brennan have to wait before Booth will move forward? Can they jump the latest hurdle keeping them apart?


**THE HURDLE IN THEIR FUTURE**

_Post-episode for The Daredevil in the Mold and The Bikini in the Soup_

Brennan woke up startled by her phone suddenly ringing in her ear. She opened her eyes quickly and jumped towards her nightstand in an effort to stop the assault on her quiet refuge, more than really talk to the person on the other line.

"Hello!" She shouted, relieved that she'd finally stopped the annoyance.

"Temperance? Temperance, it's Hannah," Her voice was a bit more nervous and uncertain than Brennan remembered her ever being.

"What's wrong?" She sat up in the bed and braced herself. This late at night, it had to be an emergency and Booth was the only person they had in common.

"You need to call Seeley," Hannah said quietly. "We had a… fight. I just want to be sure he's okay."

Brennan was immediately irritated. Why would she call her about something that was obviously not her business? She knew Hannah had accepted everything that had happened between she and Booth, but she was still grappling with having to accept Booth's rejection while watching him in a relationship with another woman.

"Hannah, what does this have to do with me? I assume you'll work it out."

"Well…that's the thing. I don't think we're going to. He asked me to marry him and I said no."

She almost suffocated. It felt like she'd been hit in the chest with a brick. He was ready to marry her? A thousand different emotions hit her at one time and she tried to pull herself together quickly.

"Temperance? Are you there?" Hannah was apparently moving around the apartment and equated the long silence to a possible dropped signal. Brennan was happy for the excuse.

"Yeah, I'm here. Why did you say no?" Since she'd finally dealt with her feelings and discovered that she'd made a huge mistake in letting Booth go, she had a hard time understanding how any woman could.

"I told him from the very beginning that I wasn't interested in marriage. He didn't believe me I guess."

Brennan signed. "I told you, Hannah. I told you that if you couldn't be with him, totally, completely with him for the long haul. You had no business being with him at all! I told you that!" She'd surprised herself with the anger that came out in her words. She'd seen so much of herself in Hannah when they'd first met that she was compelled to tell her from the beginning that Booth would get hurt. It was her way of protecting him at the time. In hindsight, she knew now that it was really her way of testing how important Hannah would end up being to him.

"I thought he'd heard me or maybe I thought he would change… I don't know. I just wanted to be with him for as long as I could."

"Where is he now? "

"I left him at the Washington monument. Who knows at this point."

"I do," Brennan jumped out of her bed and began looking for her clothes. "Don't worry. I'll text you when I find him just so you know he's okay."

#############################

Brennan pulled open the door at Founding Fathers, and stood in the archway surveying the bar area for an attractive man she knew was probably burying his woes in shot glasses. It took her less than 30 seconds to see him sitting at the left corner of the bar in mid-swallow.

"You drunk?" She said sliding into the stool next to him.

"Relatively. Relatively meaning I'm drunker than usual. You know, I am not a drunk." Brennan had interrupted his experiment with exactly how many shots of whiskey he could drink and not slide off the bar stool.

"You sound….something…..Hannah called me." She analyzed him as she spoke. She'd become rather good at determining how people were feeling under Booth's training. He looked defeated. It reminded her of the night he'd poured his heart out to her. She almost flinched from the memory.

"Just….I really…I don't wanna talk about that…ok? I'm just…I'm over it, I'm done, ok?"

"So, what happens next?" On the way over, after working through the anger she felt towards Hannah for hurting her friend, she'd allowed herself a moment of hope. There was a chance now. The door was open for them to get back on track.

"What happens next? What….you like evidence, right Bones? Well here's the evidence…the evidence is that there is something wrong here. Now I….I found love with a woman….I had a kid…she doesn't want to marry me. Well…and then the next woman, well she's….."

"Me," Brennan finished quietly.

"Yeah, and now, I mean what is it with women who just don't want what I'm offering here?" Booth couldn't even look at her as he spoke. It turned out liquor was not only causing him to speak the truth. It was also melting any walls he had up around all his feelings. The wall he'd built around what he now called "The Bones Situation" had crumbled with the last shot and all of the sudden the old feelings he hadn't quite gotten over came rushing back.

"Booth," She wanted him to look at her. If he would just look at her, she could tell him that all of them had been crazy, including her. He was wonderful. He was what she wanted now. She'd been a fool before.

Booth recoiled at the sound of her voice. He'd heard something in it. Something that sounded like she wanted to revisit a conversation he couldn't deal with at the moment.

"No, just…you know what?...Drink….Drink…I'm just really, really….I'm just mad. I'm just really mad at all of you. Alright? I'm just mad. Ok….so you wanna know how this is gonna work? Ok, this is how this is gonna work…Me and you are partners, that's what we do, we're partners. Alright? And I love that, I think that's great, and we're good people who catch bad people right?...And we argue, we go back and forth, we're partners….and sometimes after we solve a case we come here and we celebrate, that's what we do, we celebrate. So, as far as I can see that is what happens next. Are you ok with that? Great, because if you are I'll tell you what, you stay here and you have a drink with me. Alright maybe we have a little small talk, chit-chat. And if you're not, well….you can leave….there's the door, and tomorrow I'll find you a new FBI guy."

Why wouldn't he look at her? "Those are my only choices?" She didn't want those options. They'd been only partners. That was going back. She wanted to move forward. She wanted more now.

"Yeah, those are your only choices." He wasn't even sure if he was okay with not adding a third option, but speaking the only two options he could deal with at this moment out loud somehow gave him comfort.

She took a deep breath and gave up. She was going to have to think about him now and push her feelings aside. He obviously needed time to heal.

"Then I'll have a drink," She'd have to be patient. She'd screwed up. Now, she'd have to wait for him to be ready no matter how long it took.

#########################################

With a fresh cup of coffee in hand, Booth turned the corner and ran smack into the quizzical eyes of Dr. Sweets.

"Damn!" It came out before he could stop it. He DID NOT want to talk about Hannah or Bones today. He wanted to sit in his office in peace and do what he did best, catch bad guys. This wasn't the day to talk about feelings, love or his future.

"Man… I haven't even opened my mouth yet. " Sweets looked at him slightly amused.

"Yes, but you are, aren't you. I see it on your face."

"I just came by to see how you were doing. I assume it's kind of jarring to go from almost getting married to not having a girlfriend at all." Sweets followed Booth as he walked swiftly back into his office in an effort to run from his "psycho babble".

"Look, Sweets. She didn't want to get married. I'm dealing with it."

Sweets flopped down in a chair, leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees. "Here's the thing. I think I need to apologize to you."

"Apologize? For what?"

"I think I had something to do with you moving too fast with Hannah. I've thought about it and I think I kind of dared you to propose."

Booth leaned back in his chair and looked at him. "How could you have anything to do with me proposing to my girlfriend?"

"I might have pressured you when we were drinking at the bar. All that talk about me loving Daisy and not wanting to end up like you, unmarried and alone. Were you even considering marrying Hannah before that night?" Sweets looked at him and waited. He was a psychiatrist so he knew the answer. This thing had gone horribly awry when he'd said something to Booth about not wanting to end up like him. He'd basically double dog dared him to prove that he was capable of having a "normal" life with a wife and family.

"It had crossed my mind, thank you. I just got a little extra encouragement during our discussion in the bar."

"And… if she'd said yes, you would have married her?" Sweets was going somewhere with this line of questioning Booth had determined. He just wasn't sure exactly where.

"Yes, of course." Something in his gut clinched immediately. Would he have? He saw a quick flash of Hannah in a wedding dress walking towards him and suddenly he felt relieved.

Sweets stood and grabbed a handful of candy from the jar on the desk. "Here's what I think… my stupid comment at the bar pushed you to make a move you hadn't really thought about yet. You didn't want what I was saying to be true, that somehow you were going to be alone the rest of your life, so you got scared, terrified in fact. The easiest thing to do to was to run out to a store and put a ring on Hannah's finger."

"Wow…Sweets. Just kick a man while he's down. Not only did your girlfriend turn down your proposal, but I don't think you're emotionally healthy enough to know that you didn't really want to marry her in the first place. That is what you're saying right?"

"In a way… This should be a good thing. I'm trying to help. " He wasn't ignorant to the hurt he'd seen in Booth's eyes for the past few days. It was almost palpable. But Sweets knew it had more to do with the act of getting rejected one more time than who had rejected him. Very different from what happened with him and Brennan when he had basically planned their entire future together.

"Yeah, not helping… Could you do me a favor, Sweets?"

"Sure, anything," Since he felt responsible for causing this debacle, he could at least do whatever he could to fix it.

"Get out of my office. I need to get some work done." Booth was tired. He was tired of talking, feeling, hoping, wondering, and believing in love. It was a farce. Bones was right. The faster he got his mind wrapped around that small fact, the easier life would be.

########################################

Brennan's office door suddenly slammed closed, and she looked up to Angela standing over her.

"She's gone?"

"If you're talking about Hannah, yes, it appears she's moved out of Booth's apartment." Brennan said as she continued typing her report.

"Don't you think you should have told me this?"

"Why? What does it have to do with you?"

"Not me, silly, it has BIG repercussions for you. That's what I'm concerned about." Angela leaned down on the desk to get Brennan to look at her directly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She hit the enter key and looked back up at her friend.

"Seriously? You're going to seriously sit there and tell me this doesn't change anything?"

"Have you seen him lately? He doesn't want to talk about anything close to the word 'relationship'."

"He'll get over it. It's just going to take him some time," Angela said as she looked through Brennan's office windows at Booth talking with her husband. "He still wants you. He's just gun shy."

"Ang, that's the understatement of the year."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Nothing. That's what I'm going to do." She got up and snatched some papers off the printer. There was nothing she could do. He'd given her the options. Partners or nothing at all.

"You can't do nothing, " Angela said turning to her friend. Suddenly they heard Booth on his cell yelling at an FBI agent, "Look, don't come back to the office until you find that fingerprint! If I see you there and you don't already have the evidence in processing I'll break your neck!"

Angela quickly turned back to Brennan. "Ok… on second thought, maybe it is a good decision to do nothing right now."

"Yep," Brennan flopped down on the couch and threw open a file folder stacked on the corner of the table. "I tried to tell you."

"But how long do you think you're going to have to wait this out?"

"Who knows? I don't even know if we'll have an opportunity to get back to where we were before I screwed it up." Her face tightened. She was going to beat herself up for what happened that night until the day she died. It may have been the only chance she'd have for happiness.

"Sweety, just play it by ear. He'll come around."

###########################################

A big heart shaped handcrafted card greeted Booth as he walked into his office. He immediately smiled and read the scribbled text, "You're the best Daddy ever! Happy Valentine's Day!" He chuckled. His son had delivered what he was sure would be the only bright, shining moment today. Normally all the hearts and flowers wouldn't bother him, but fresh out of his break up with Hannah he was having a hard time stomaching anything that looked like romance. At least this case would distract him. He and Bones would get back in the swing of things and bag some bad guys.

He picked up his cell phone and called her.

"Booth?" She answered. "Why aren't you here?"

"I'm on the way. Just had to swing by the office to pick up some files."

"Ok. Cam is in the lab dealing with the flesh that was left on the bones and in the tanning bed. She should have some information for us soon. She's pressuring everyone to finish this case in time for her date tonight. " Brennan sighed. She'd never understood Valentine's Day. To her, it had always been a shallow celebration of an idealistic view of love. Now, it was just a reminder of what she understood the importance of but couldn't have.

"So…" He snickered, "Cam's rushing everyone so she can get her guaranteed roll in the hay?"

"It seems that is her goal, yes." Brennan held the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she dug through the mail on her desk. "I just have a problem with rushing to a conclusion without making sure we have all the evidence."

"I know you do…"

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all, Bones. Getting in the car now." Booth dropped his cell in his pocket and stepped into the elevator.

As expected, the partners fell into their usual routine. While Booth searched for the story and the motive for the murder. Brennan conquered uncovering the facts. In the end, this had always been the strength in their partnership, but it had also been a huge factor in the undoing of their burgeoning personal relationship. Brennan knew her part in that now, and no matter how she tried to ignore it was always at the forefront of her thoughts. She kept wondering what this day would have been like if she'd said yes. For only that reason, she wanted Valentine's Day over.

To add to her discomfort, some of the men she'd gone out with once or twice had decided this day gave them a good excuse to reach out to her again. She'd been fielding random phone calls since about 10 am. Booth was staying quiet but she knew he was annoyed by the disturbances. She was just irritated. Irritated that the men she didn't want were calling, and the one she'd decided she couldn't be without was ignoring her like the plague. Booth started the morning complaining about anything that had anything to do with outward displays of romance. In fact, he'd mentioned really wanting to go to the firing range and talked about the Valentine's Day Massacre being the only interesting historical marker. Suddenly, she had an idea. It would at least allow her to do what she really wanted to do, which was spend Valentine's Day with him.

Booth cocked the gun and immediately felt more like himself than he had in days. The familiar click of the trigger put him back in control. Control of his actions, his life, his destiny, everything. This was what he knew. The life that had spun out of control due to his inability to keep his heart from trumping his mind was completely unfamiliar. Hence, he was having a really good time shooting the fake representation of a feeling way more complex than cards or movies ever expressed. Suddenly, the door opened and Brennan walked in pushing an old wooden box on a rolling cart.

"Bones, what are you doing here?"

She stopped and began unclipping the sides, "This is my Valentine's Day gift to you."

"Bones, I told ya…"

"Open it."

He walked to the lid and apprehensively slid his hand across the dark wood.

"What is it?"

"Just open it." She nodded her head and looked at him with a slight smile.

He quickly lifted the lid and unveiled two Tommie guns. "No…. what?...haha…I always wanted to fire one of these…"

She smiled. "You told me that Valentine's was all about the Valentine's Day massacre for you so I thought… Is this a good idea? I got them from the roaring 20's exhibit." Grabbing the ear protectors, she couldn't help but be proud of herself. She'd actually made him smile.

He grabbed one of the guns, looked at her and smiled again. "Great idea."

"Ah…you ready Bones?" He said positioning himself in front of the target.

"Ready." She said making sure she had the right stance to be able to fire the gun without getting pushed into the wall behind them.

"Ah… take that you dirty rat!" He pointed the gun and pulled the trigger. Pop, pop, pop, pop. Booth was truly enjoying the rapid sound of the bullets hitting the heavy target paper.

Brennan watched and smiled. "Yeah…take that you dirty rat!" She got a couple of shots off but was having a hard time thinking about anything but enjoying the laughter that sounded very much like her old partner. The one that hadn't been beaten up by the women in his life.

"Happy Valentine's Day Massacre, Booth!" She shouted. She hoped tonight would be the beginning of him returning to his old self. The one she could talk to about forgiving her and, ultimately, giving her a second chance.

#######################################

It had been a month and nothing was getting easier. It wasn't easier for her to not say anything about moving forward, and it was definitely not getting easier for him to open himself again to the prospect of any kind of relationship.

Brennan's patience was dwindling. She kept telling herself that it was her duty to wait it out. But the longer she waited the more afraid she grew that he would rebound into something with some random woman just to prove something to himself.

She was surprised he hadn't felt her discomfort. No matter how hard she tried to put it out of her mind as they worked cases, it was still there. Lingering in the air. She would catch herself looking at him for a little too long, or losing her focus while she was examining a body. Her talent for compartmentalizing things was not working. Before his break up, she'd done a better job. She told herself that he wasn't leaving Hannah so wallowing wasn't going to help anyone. Now with Hannah gone, the possibilities were now flooding her mind. She'd subconsciously played through a multitude of scenarios. None of them ended with them not finally being together.

"Hello?" Angela had nearly thrown the phone across the room when she opened her eyes and saw 2 am flashing on her alarm clock screen. Then, she saw Brennan's name pop up on the cell phone screen. Hodgins stirred slightly and turned over in the bed.

"Hey, Ang." Brennan was wide awake. She'd just finished trying to give her full attention to some research she was in the middle of completing. Once she'd gotten into the swing of working, she'd been fine, but as soon as she closed her laptop Booth pushed himself back into her head.

Angela rolled out of the bed and quickly walked into the living room. "What's wrong?"

"I've got to ask him. I've got to get it out of my system."

"Ask him what, sweety?"

"If we'll ever have a chance at this point… If he'll ever stop thinking about me rejecting him the first time. I need to stop wondering." Brennan walked to the kitchen, yanked a bottle of white wine out of the refrigerator and began pouring.

Angela sighed. She knew at some point it was going to come down to this, that Brennan would have to be the one that drew the line in the sand this time. "I hear you, but how are you going to have this discussion? You keep telling me that any time you even look like you might be about to bring up anything personal he changes the subject quickly."

"I know, but I've got to do something, Ang. He's got to talk to me."

"Ok. This is going to sound stupid, but it just may work. Write a letter. Just write a letter and tell him how you feel. He's got to pay attention to that."

"A letter? Come on…" Brennan needed her to be serious. A letter was going to have them slipping into Romeo and Juliet. That kind story book romance was in neither one of their personalities.

"Before you dismiss it, think about it. A letter allows you to say all that you need to say without interruption. It also allows you to ask your questions and gives him an opportunity to really think about his answers. It's fail proof for knee jerk reactions."

She had a point. Evidence had shown Brennan was horrible at these kinds of conversations. Especially, when she was backed into a corner and needed a quick response. Maybe a letter was better.

"So… I write the letter, put it under his door and then what?"

"You wait. It may take him a day or two but he'll react. In fact, I suggest you do it Friday so you have a better chance of not seeing him until he has an answer. "

"I don't know…"

"Well, just think about it. If you're really ready to pull the band aid off this thing. It's either this, interrupting a case to talk about feelings, or knocking on his door at night. Totally up to you…" She yawned. "I've got to get back to bed before my boss wonders why I'm late in the morning. Just keep me posted."

"Ok. Thanks…"

"No problem, sweety. That's what I'm here for."

Brennan hung up and stood in the middle room to consider Angela's suggestion. She hated she was even in this situation. Love was never supposed to be an issue for her. It wasn't something she knew how or wanted to deal with. But here it was. She loved Booth. She finally realized that it didn't matter that she didn't logically believe in the emotion. It was tangible and present because the need to be with him was consuming her. If he was serious about them just being partners, she had to have her last stand. She had to lay it all out on the line so she could truly walk away if the answer was still no.

She turned on her heel, went back to her desk, threw open a drawer with her mother's old stationary, and started writing.

_**Booth – **_

_**After you get over the shock of me actually putting pen to paper to write you a letter, I need you to really pay attention to what I'm getting ready to tell you. Let me first say, I know you're not in a good place now. I know that because I'm your friend above all else and I know more about you than you think I do. I know losing Hannah is making you second guess your philosophy regarding feelings over facts. You're wrong to doubt yourself. I'm the queen of evidence before drawing a conclusion, and I'm telling you that evidence doesn't always lead you to the right conclusion. I know that from personal experience. I know that from thinking for a minute that I could walk away from you. **_

_**I know you don't want to talk about it, but I meant what I said in the car a couple of months ago, and you silencing me by using Hannah didn't keep me from continuing to feel the way I do. I shouldn't have said no. I should have kept you in my arms and told you that I needed your help to be sure. I should have told you that you're my best friend and the only man I can see myself trying to be with. I still want you, Booth. And I've waited a month to give you space to deal with what I know you've been going through, but now I'm afraid to wait any longer. This is the only second chance we'll have and I want to take it. I want to use it to start again and end with you and me together the way we should be. I need you to forgive me. I need you to put yourself on the line again and trust me. You were willing to do that once. Are you willing to do it again so we can move forward? **_

_**Bones**_

She put the pen down, folded up the light piece of paper and slid it into an envelope. She would leave it in his office in the morning. It was do or die time.

###########################################

Booth pushed the door open, and threw his keys along with a stack of files on the kitchen bar. It had been a long day and he was happy to be home. The more successful he and Bones got in solving the cases that no one could solve, the more they got called in to consult on local police cases that just needed an additional opinion. Today, there were three such cases that had them both tied up all day. He'd only seen her that morning when she came by his office to update him on some findings related to the case they were actually assigned to work on.

He pulled open his tie and slid his jacket off his shoulders. She was different this morning. A little more straight forward than she'd been lately. Over the past month, he'd noticed that she seem to be tiptoeing around him. He kept feeling her searching his face for clues to what he was going to say or do in a particular situation. She was acting like she'd digested the idea that they were just going to be partners, but he still felt like she hadn't completely wrapped her mind around the concept. Either way, she had to know he wasn't willing to get his heart stomped on again. He still loved her. Those feelings hadn't changed or gone away since he'd told her last year. He'd just covered them with his affection for Hannah, and his passion for work. But that didn't matter. From now on, he was going to use the Bones approach. All the evidence was showing him that "love" was not in the cards for him. He would act accordingly.

Booth lifted the pile of work off the kitchen bar, sat on the couch, and began organizing the loose sheets of paper. After digging about ten pages down, he uncovered a small envelope with his name written across the top in Bones' handwriting. He placed the rest of the stack on the floor and apprehensively freed the folded piece of paper from its container.

####################################

It was 4 am. Brennan woke to rapid knocking on her door. She jumped out of bed, swung her robe around her shoulders and walked quickly down the hallway.

She looked through the peephole, and readied herself. It seemed Booth was going to be faster reacting than Angela had predicted. It had just been 24 hours.

"Hi." She said as she opened the door.

He quickly stepped in and turned to face her.

"I assume you were expecting me?"

"Yeah… just not so soon. I thought you would need a little more time to think. Of course, that may be an indicator of this conversation not going so well for me." She smiled slightly. She'd learned a lot of things from Booth over the years. One was the craft of inserting humor to diffuse a potentially tense situation.

"I told you that I didn't want to talk about this. Didn't I?"

"Yes, but it's been a month, Booth."

"If I remember correctly, I didn't give you a timeline. I just said that I didn't want to talk about it."

"That's not logical besides…"

"Stop right there, Bones. It's not logical that ALL the women that I've tried to make something work with have ALL kicked me to the curb in one way or another. Why can't I be illogical about this?"

"Because this is about us…"

"And you are the second woman in the line of rejections that told me that I wasn't good enough…"

"I NEVER said that, Booth. You know that's not true. Besides you obviously didn't hear me, I was telling you that I wasn't good enough!"

"So… what's changed? What's different now?"

"I don't know. I've done some soul searching, I guess." She looked down at the floor. "I know you're mad, but I need you to know I meant what I said."

"So you think now that Hannah's gone it changes my position on moving forward without you?"

"Doesn't it? I mean… you said you knew, Booth. You said you were the guy that knew we would be together for 30, 40, 50 years. That's what you said. Was that a lie?"

"No, I didn't lie but…"

"But what? I said no? I hurt you? I get that. I know I hurt you. Don't you think you've punished me enough?"

"I'm not trying to punish you. I'm trying to stop punishing myself." Booth leaned against the wall and looked at her.

"Look, I can't tell you how sorry I am for that night…how much I wish I could take it back. But we're here now, I finally understand. "

"What do you understand? You said you didn't believe in love. I should have listened to you. How can I have a life with a woman who doesn't believe love is real?"

"That's not the case anymore, Booth. You made it real for me." She said quietly.

Booth looked at her and tried to process what she was saying. He usually had the same look when he was in the process of interrogating a witness.

Brennan closed the space between them and touched his face. "There's nothing to figure out here. I love you, period. It took me a while to name it, but that's what it is. It's love."

Booth backed away from her. "I hear you, Bones, but I don't know if I can go back there. Losing you nearly killed me. I mean that. It…nearly… killed…me. Hannah reached out and gave me life support. That's why I couldn't leave her. I owed my life to her. The fact of the matter is I need to know that I'll NEVER feel that way again. I need to know that you're in this completely, all the way to the end."

Her eyes welled up with tears. "Booth, I promise you with everything that I am. I know it's you. It's never been anyone but you. You've got to trust me."

Booth looked at her and exhaled. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop loving this woman. He'd loved her since the first day he saw her. He loved her when she was just his partner, when she turned into his best friend, when she was his lifesaver, and when she was the only person in this world who had the power to destroy him. He couldn't shake it. It would always be with him no matter how far he ran from her. It just was. He knew she finally felt it too or she wouldn't be fighting so hard. Her eyes told him the story. She'd discovered herself in the months they'd been apart, and it had toppled her like a tidal wave. She didn't know which way was up, but what she did know was that the only thing that was certain was her need for him. Slowly, he moved forward again and took her into his arms. She pressed her face into his chest and prayed for the answer that would right her world again.

"God, I wish I could tell you no. I wish I could just walk away, and be okay. The problem is I still love you. It hasn't gone away or gotten weaker. It's as strong as it was when I told you the first time. I just got really good at ignoring it. This whole time I've been blaming you, blaming you for not seeing what I saw the first time I met you. I've spent so much energy doing it that I didn't focus on being more patient and helping you discover what was pulling us together. That's my fault, Bones. Because ultimately, you've always been the only one I could trust." He kissed the top of her head and breathed her in.

She leaned back to look at his face, "I'm sorry it took me so long. I guess I had to really feel it. Wake up every day and feel a part of me was missing. I'll never walk away from you, Booth. I never want to feel that way again. " She kissed him, threading her fingers through his short brown hair. "You are what love is to me. Trust that."

**THE END**

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